Ancient footprints in Greece trample on theory of human evolution

Human ancestors may have evolved in Europe as well as Africa, a study claimsAlamy

Experts have long believed that humans evolved in Africa millions of years ago but the discovery of 29 human-like footprints in Greece could challenge that theory of how our species emerged.

The footprints, which are 5.7 million years old, were found embedded in a rock in Trachilos, on the island of Crete. A new study suggests that they belonged to a creature that had no claws, walked upright and featured inner toes that protruded more than its outer ones — all signs that the earliest human ancestors may have wandered around southern Europe at the same time that they were developing in east Africa.

“Some would argue that one of the defining characteristics of being part of the human clade is the shape of our…